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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Craft Question

Writing is so much more than the perfect idea and the perfect words.

Any writer will tell you there is a formula. There are rules. There are strategies for writing a winning book.

I'll be honest, I'm not currently a fan of GMC's (goals, motivations and conflicts). Although I understand the importance of them, it's frustrating to always need a reason for why something is happening, why someone feels a certain way, why a specific decision is made, why a thought was...thought. :)

Share with me. What writing component was the hardest for you to learn or pick up on? What area of your writing do you still struggle with?

4 comments:

I love craft books, and Katie Ganshert wrote a great post about this yesterday. If you haven't read it, you should.

In the end, it's about the story. Just write it. Because every story has a character who wants something, even if it's the man or woman. And conflict will come. It has to in order to be a story. So write it and then after you finish it, go back with what you've learned from craft books and tighten it.

I never follow a formula, but after I'm done writing and look back, all the elements are there, just not necessarily in the order some books tell us they should be. :)

I sometimes get frustrated by the plotting books that say, "At precisely the halfway mark, X should have happened and X should be about to happen." I recently read Jeff Gerke's book Plot Versus Character, and I loved how he presented all the components a novel can (and often should) have, but he also gives us freedom to use the components to their best effect in our own stories. It freed me from the percentage-plotting monster. :)

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So glad you decided to stop by. My name is Lacie. I am a stay-at-home mom with three children under the age of six. I like to think I have it all together but the truth is: I don't. I am a work in progress striving to become more of who God has called me to be, more of what my husband needs, more of the mom I wish I was. If I'm able to accomplish all of that, I dream of being a published author. My blog is a place where I share my thoughts and struggles along the way. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to encourage you on your journey as well. I hope you'll chime in and leave a comment if something strikes you as interesting...or just to say hi!